Drink was a nice ballet, pretty much entirely technique with little emotion added.

Swan Lake i was most looking forward to and was disappointed. Paloma danced like there was just air in her head, she just danced..again, no emotion. the same goes for Gennadi Saveliev; no emotion.

Sinatra Suite was a nice dance although many around me said that they thought they could have gone back to their studio, had a glass of wine and choreographed the same exact dance Twyla did. oh well, Sarah Lane was just fine, nothing too sparkly or anything and Herman was probably one of my favorite parts. his smoothness and sauve dancing appealed to me...he reaked of the classic Fred Astaire sexiness.

The Green Table was very intense and was done well. Death was played by Isaac Stappas and he did very well. even when he walked onstage to bow a second time, you could tell he was cool. that is really the only word i can think of, well that and sexy. lol :blush:

overall i was quite disappointed by ABT performance and i almost felt insulted that they didn't want to try their hardest to impress MN. but oh well, i still love the company and will always but i just wish they would have tried harder to show us how amazing i know they are!

OH! one more thing.... as i was walking out of the theater i walked right next to David Hallberg!! if he wasn't on his phone and i wasn't dying of shock i would have talked to him. but its still so cool! he was soooo powerful on stage and almost intimidating with his gorgeous lines and jumps. his feet are amazing and i think he knows it....but he was beautiful and i look forward to seeing him dance more!

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That's a shame that ABT spent so little time in Mpls. I recall when I lived there for a dozen or so years back in the 70's and 80's that ABT would frequently come for almost a week at a time and do consecutive Swan Lakes and evenings of rep. I specifically recall a season when Cynthia Gregory, Martine Van Hamel and Megali Messaic all did Swan Lake at Northrup Auditorium. And Martine did one of her very last performances there in Fall River Legend. She also spent time taking class, teaching and choreographing at MN Dance Theater when her good friend, Bonnie Mathis, was the principal teacher at the school. Mpls/St. Paul reportedly has more theater/music/dance per capita than NYC. You'd think that major companies like ABT and NYC Ballet and the Joffrey would spend more time there. After all, they do call it the Minneapple.

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I’m reporting on behalf of my mother, a casual ballet fan who also saw the performance (at my insistence) and called me right afterwards to tell me how much she loved it. Now, she’s far from a ballet expert, and all of her knowledge of/exposure to the art comes from me. But I think that the audience – like most ballet audiences – was made up mostly of people like her, not experts like those post on BalletTalk!

She loved the performance and told me that it was a wonderful introduction to ABT (this was the first time she had seen the company live). She was afraid she wouldn’t like “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes” and “The Green Table” she’s not a fan of “modern” dance but actually ended up being impressed by both. She said the men in the former were especially good, with a deep commitment to the piece. She had trouble following “The Green Table” at some parts (in terms of figuring out who was who) but said that it was a powerful piece and well danced.

Her favorites, however, were the “Swan Lake” pas de deux and “Sinatra Suite.” She said Paloma Herrera danced very well (I think she used words like “beautiful” and “passionate”), but that Gennadi Saveliev failed to match her in charisma or stage presence (“still, it was good” was her final judgement). She loved Herman Cornejo in “Sinatra Suite’ – he was her favorite of the night – and thought he moved very smoothly and elegantly.

Hmmm… this isn’t much of a review, given that I’m only paraphrasing the impressions of the person who was actually there. Still, she said the audience reaction was very positive, although the theater was far from sold out. She bought the cheapest ticket available and got a seat way up in the rafters but was able to move down several rows due to all of the empty seats. If that’s any indication, I guess there’s no reason for ABT to stay for more than one night?

Oh, and about the theaters statistic – I heard that it was more than in any other city EXCEPT New York (I grew up in St. Paul myself). Regardless, the Twin Cities does (we all consider it one city) have a very strong and vibrant artistic community, but the taste is decidedly in favor of the contemporary (not that ballet isn’t/can’t be contemporary, but it is still generally viewed as not so). When I had a subscription to the James Sewell Ballet in high school, I recall the company selling out its performances on a regular basis (don’t know about now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was still the case).

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I stand totally corrected re: theater per capita for the Minneapolis. From Wikipedia: "The region is second only to New York City in support for the arts and and live theater per capita and is the third-largest theater market in the country." Hope this cures Farrell Fan's "headache".

Northrop Auditorium capacity is more than 4800 seats - far more than the Met Opera House. A large number of the seats are not acceptable for viewing dance or anything else; so, maybe empty seats are to be expected.